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Who likes welfare? Get in line

Published: Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 3:10 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 3:10 p.m.

Who really likes welfare?

Well, around here, it depends on when you ask. And how you ask.

If you had asked a random 50 strangers two weeks ago if they were in favor of spending government money on private people so they can provide for themselves and their children, the overwhelming majority would have said no. (Many of them might have even added an expletive in front of the “no.”)

Even today, if you ask folks whether they support welfare, most will say they don't. “I have to work for a living. Why shouldn't they?” is a familiar line of reasoning, in essence if not word for word.

The general belief seems to be that people who cannot provide for themselves and their families have done something or failed to do something to end up in that predicament.

And that might well be the case. I don't know enough people in that situation to come to a universal conclusion.

Food stamps, the popular whipping boy of the I-Got-Mine-You-Get-Yours crowd, are similarly unpopular. As part of the government system of safety nets that prevent widespread starvation, they are hailed by some as a saving grace and excoriated by others as just another way people can keep from working.

Again, I will reserve judgement.

But lo and behold! What a difference a storm can make.

Overnight, people throughout our region became believers in the safety net that catches people if they fall from the precipice of fiscal certainty.

No longer were food stamps the scourge they once were.

Once Lafourche Parish was approved for personal government assistance in the wake of Hurricane Isaac, a strange phenomenon took hold.

People throughout Lafourche lined up to receive the government benefits once so commonly despised. Outside Lafourche, a different sort of feeling was evident.

Looking through the Facebook posts about the assistance program, I can tell you these facts about our most-vocal local people:

1) We hate government assistance ... unless we qualify for it, in which case we eagerly grab as much as we can.

2) We hate it when others qualify for food stamps and we do not. “Why should there be an income limit? I lost all the food in my freezer just like people who make less than I do,” might sound familiar to those who followed the story on our websites. This was another: “Why do the people in Lafourche get them and the people in Terrebonne don't?”

The folks who only days ago would have rolled their eyes if they had the misfortune of standing in line at the grocery store behind someone who was using a state-issued debit card lost their aversion to welfare.

Did a storm passing through change the hearts of people? Did it make people think, “Wow. There isn't that much standing between me and economic catastrophe.”?

Instead, gripped by the sudden ability to benefit from a system they once abhorred, people experienced momentary, self-centered changes of heart that will last exactly as long as the money credited to their accounts.

Those who do not qualify for the assistance — because they make “too much” money or because they live in the wrong place — will have their distaste for welfare buttressed by the perceived injustice of being left off the gravy train.

So we don't have any principled opposition to food stamps, and we don't mind that the government extends a helping hand every now and then. What we passionately dislike is when that hand is not extended in our own direction.

May all the people who so adamantly argue for self-reliance and criticize those whose self-reliance might falter one day stand in line to beg for help, needed or not. And may it be denied for some arbitrary, bureaucratic, government reason.

(And in the meantime, those of us who are qualified to do so might want to give thanks that we make “too much money.”)

Editorial Page Editor Michael Gorman can be reached at 448-7612 or by e-mail at mike.gorman@dailycomet.com.

<p>Who really likes welfare?</p><p>Well, around here, it depends on when you ask. And how you ask.</p><p>If you had asked a random 50 strangers two weeks ago if they were in favor of spending government money on private people so they can provide for themselves and their children, the overwhelming majority would have said no. (Many of them might have even added an expletive in front of the “no.”)</p><p>Even today, if you ask folks whether they support welfare, most will say they don't. “I have to work for a living. Why shouldn't they?” is a familiar line of reasoning, in essence if not word for word.</p><p>The general belief seems to be that people who cannot provide for themselves and their families have done something or failed to do something to end up in that predicament.</p><p>And that might well be the case. I don't know enough people in that situation to come to a universal conclusion.</p><p>Food stamps, the popular whipping boy of the I-Got-Mine-You-Get-Yours crowd, are similarly unpopular. As part of the government system of safety nets that prevent widespread starvation, they are hailed by some as a saving grace and excoriated by others as just another way people can keep from working.</p><p>Again, I will reserve judgement.</p><p>But lo and behold! What a difference a storm can make.</p><p>Overnight, people throughout our region became believers in the safety net that catches people if they fall from the precipice of fiscal certainty.</p><p>No longer were food stamps the scourge they once were.</p><p>Once Lafourche Parish was approved for personal government assistance in the wake of Hurricane Isaac, a strange phenomenon took hold.</p><p>People throughout Lafourche lined up to receive the government benefits once so commonly despised. Outside Lafourche, a different sort of feeling was evident.</p><p>Looking through the Facebook posts about the assistance program, I can tell you these facts about our most-vocal local people:</p><p>1) We hate government assistance ... unless we qualify for it, in which case we eagerly grab as much as we can.</p><p>2) We hate it when others qualify for food stamps and we do not. “Why should there be an income limit? I lost all the food in my freezer just like people who make less than I do,” might sound familiar to those who followed the story on our websites. This was another: “Why do the people in Lafourche get them and the people in Terrebonne don't?”</p><p>The folks who only days ago would have rolled their eyes if they had the misfortune of standing in line at the grocery store behind someone who was using a state-issued debit card lost their aversion to welfare.</p><p>Did a storm passing through change the hearts of people? Did it make people think, “Wow. There isn't that much standing between me and economic catastrophe.”?</p><p>No. I'm pretty sure no such soul-searching internal conversations took place.</p><p>Instead, gripped by the sudden ability to benefit from a system they once abhorred, people experienced momentary, self-centered changes of heart that will last exactly as long as the money credited to their accounts.</p><p>Those who do not qualify for the assistance — because they make “too much” money or because they live in the wrong place — will have their distaste for welfare buttressed by the perceived injustice of being left off the gravy train.</p><p>So we don't have any principled opposition to food stamps, and we don't mind that the government extends a helping hand every now and then. What we passionately dislike is when that hand is not extended in our own direction.</p><p>May all the people who so adamantly argue for self-reliance and criticize those whose self-reliance might falter one day stand in line to beg for help, needed or not. And may it be denied for some arbitrary, bureaucratic, government reason.</p><p>(And in the meantime, those of us who are qualified to do so might want to give thanks that we make “too much money.”)</p><p>Editorial Page Editor Michael Gorman can be reached at 448-7612 or by e-mail at mike.gorman@dailycomet.com.</p>